Three intriguing contests have the fans in a frenzy at UFC 133, here at the Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, on Saturday night.
‘Suga’ Rashad Evans fights for the first time since May 2010 – 434 days – keen to put himself in the main frame again and remind the fight world just why he is the top contender for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. The 20-1-1 Evans beat ‘Rampage’ Jackson in the UFC 114 final eliminator, but elected to remain inactive while champ Shogun Rua healed up; it was a decision he came to regret when he himself went down with a knee injury.
After watching from the sidelines as Jon Jones beat Rua for the belt, Evans’s poor luck continued as circumstances conspired to have Rampage – 2-0 since the Evans fight – be Jones’s first challenger in September. Sidelined for too long, Evans cannot wait to get back to the Octagon: “I want to fight. I don’t care who it is. I’m the top contender in the division and I’ll show everyone why.”
On the other side of the coin, and just five weeks removed from his stunning first-round submission over Ryan Bader at UFC 132, self-professed ‘last of the Mohicans’ Tito Ortiz accepted a rematch with top contender Evans. UFC 132 is a return of their match in July 2007, a draw at UFC 73. In the space of just one month, Ortiz could go from the endangered species list to a solidified top 5 position in the 205lbs rankings.
Ortiz said: “When (UFC President) Dana White called me I was in bed, drinking a beverage, watching a movie and wasn’t in the mindset to take a fight at three weeks’ notice. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the opportunity all night, I literally dreamed about it, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it all the next morning. So I called Dana back and accepted the fight. All the pressure is on Rashad and I am not sure he’s strong enough to deal with that.”
Ortiz fighting life has been remarkable. He has fought 25 times since turning professional in May 1997 – when he fought at UFC 13 – and all but one bout has been in the UFC. The lone fight he had outside the UFC was in December 2007 where Ortiz won a bout conducted under slightly different MMA rules (open-handed strikes only). Ortiz’s consecutive run from 2007 to now is the longest of any fighter in UFC history.
Two iconic protagonists meet in the next fight down on the night. In their native Brazil and Japan respectively Vitor Belfort and Yoshihiro Akiyama are national icons – and the similarities do not end there. Both are married to famous models and both enjoy celebrity outside the sports world , with Belfort being perhaps Brazil’s most famous fighter thanks to a stint on the ‘Big Brother’ reality TV show and ‘Sexyama’ serving as a spokesmodel for brands such as Nike. UFC 133’s middleweight co-main event is almost a certainty for ‘Fight of the Night’ when these two attack-minded icons collide.
One of the most intriguing fights on the Philadelphia event is veteran Mike Pyle, who has long had the reputation for being a monster in the gym and there are dozens of anecdotes of him dominating bigger, stronger and more famous training partners. Aged 35, “Quicksand” is now performing at his best where it really matters – in the Octagon – and sees UFC 133’s clash with much-hyped 22-year-old Rory MacDonald as another chance to underline his welterweight contender status.
Pyle says he’s heard all the hype before: “I’m not letting a kid who still gets ID’d in bars stand in my way of getting a welterweight title shot. He’s getting a lot of hype based on what he could do in the future, not on anything he’s done. Potential doesn’t mean anything in the Octagon. He’s this year’s John Hathaway, and look what I did to John Hathaway.”
MacDonald, meanwhile, insists that he is not listening to the hype that he’s Canada’s ‘next GSP’… he’s listening to the man himself instead everyday in the gym. The 22-year-old said: “Georges has been great to me, I’m learning so much from him in the gym. He’s gone out of his way to help me, even picking me up and driving me to the gym. I’m trying to absorb all I can from him.”
STATS:
Evans v Ortiz
Rematch of 2007 bout declared a draw after Ortiz was deducted a point in the second round for grabbing the fence. Evans returns to the Octagon for the first time since May of 2010 when he won a number-one contender bout against Quinton Jackson. Evans chose to wait for injured champion, Mauricio Rua, instead of taking other bouts, then suffered an injury himself. That allowed Jon Jones to win the title, creating a heated rivalry between the now former teammates. Jones was supposed to defend the title against Evans but pulled out with a thumb injury. Ortiz steps in for Phil Davis and will become the first fighter with 25 career UFC bouts. Ortiz will be just 35 days removed from his first win since 2006, his shortest layoff since 1999. Evans will be coming off his longest layoff since entering the UFC. Evans looks to join Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz as the only fighters with at least 10 wins at 205 pounds in UFC history. His nine wins since The Ultimate Fighter two Finale are tied for the most in the light heavyweight division. Ortiz looks to join Georges St-Pierre, Chuck Liddell, and Randy Couture with 16 UFC wins – tied for second all-time.
Vitor Belfort vs Yoshihiro Akiyama (middleweight bout)
Both fighters try to rebound from losses in their most recent contests. Belfort’s loss to Anderson Silva for the middleweight title in February snapped a career-long five bout winning streak. Akiyama has lost each of his last two contests with losses to Michael Bisping and Chris Leben in 2010. He was unbeaten from 2005-09 going 12-0 with two no contests. Belfort, a former light heavyweight champion, has nine career losses but the list reads like a who’s who of MMA – Silva, Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem (twice), Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture (twice), Chuck Liddell and Kazushi Sakuraba.
Dennis Hallman vs Brian Ebersole (welterweight bout)
These two have combined for an amazing 129 pro bouts. Hallman (50-13-2, 1 NC) looks to win three straight and improve to 3-1 since his return to the UFC in 2009. He has won six of his last seven overall and has 36 career submission victories. Ebersole (47-14-1, 1 NC) has won eight straight and 12 of his last 13. He won fight of the night honors in his UFC debut last time out when he filled in for Carlos Condit and beat Chris Lytle. Despite 63 career bouts, Ebersole has never been knocked out.
Jorge Rivera vs Costantinos Philippou (middleweight bout)
Rivera returns for the first time since a knockout loss to Michael Bisping in February. Before the loss he was on a three bout UFC winning streak, the longest of his career. Five of his last six wins have come by knockout. Philippou moves from the preliminary card to replace Alessio Sakara in this bout. It’s third time in a row that a scheduled bout between Sakara and Rivera has been canceled. Philippou lost his UFC debut to Nick Catone in March but was 7-0 with one no contest in his eight previous bouts.
Rory MacDonald vs Mike Pyle (welterweight bout)
MacDonald enters off a dominating performance of Nate Diaz in April. He took Diaz down seven times in the only bout of his career to go the distance. Six of his other 10 victories have come by submission with the other four by knockout. His only career loss came by TKO in a fight-of-the-night performance against Carlos Condit with seven seconds left in the final round. This will be the Canadian’s second career bout in the U.S. Pyle has won three straight and four of five since losing his UFC debut to Brock Larson in 2009. 16 of his 21 career wins have come by submission while he has been finished in six of his seven losses.
PRELIMINARY CARD
Matt Hamill vs Alexander Gustafsson
Hamill tries to rebound from a loss to Quinton Jackson in May. He has won five of his last six bouts overall and looks to become the first light heavyweight win 10 wins since his debut at The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale. Gustafsson has finished 10 of his 11 career wins with each of the last two coming by rear-naked choke.
GAD Telegraph picks for UFC 133: Evans, Belfort, Ebersole, Phillippou, MacDonald. Prelim card: Gustafsson.
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